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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in infants is associated with significant morbidity and mortality

Pediatr Transplant. 2022 Feb 5:e14239. doi: 10.1111/petr.14239. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Infants are subjected to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) due to malignant and non-malignant diseases. However, specific data concerning the outcome and transplantation-related complications in infants, as a separate age group, are limited. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of infancy on the outcome, toxicity, and complications after HSCT.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data of 55 infants that underwent HSCT in our unit from May 1997 until February 2020, emphasizing on the probability of overall survival (OS) and the cumulative incidence (CI) of transplantation-related mortality (TRM) and complications.

RESULTS: We report a probability of OS of 61%, a CI of TRM at day 100 and 365 post transplantation of 22% and 30%, respectively, and additionally a CI of graft failure, acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and infectious complications, 18%, 44%, and 39%, respectively. No statistically significant association was detected between the above mentioned parameters and diagnosis, the use of myeloablative or non-myeloablative/reduced toxicity conditioning regimens or the type of donor.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that HSCT in infancy is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. This is possibly attributed to endogenous, age-related factors. More specifically, infants may be at a higher risk of toxicities due to the immaturity of developing vital organs and the deficiency of the newly adopted immune system that predisposes them to infectious complications. The development of GvHD further augments the danger of infections, in a potential vice-versa relationship. Moreover, there are few data on pharmacokinetics of chemotherapy agents, making safe and efficacious drug administration hard.

PMID:35122456 | DOI:10.1111/petr.14239

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Predictors of parent’s knowledge of hospital-based pediatric falls

J Spec Pediatr Nurs. 2022 Feb 5:e12368. doi: 10.1111/jspn.12368. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to validate and to determine the individual characteristics and demographic factors associated with parents’ knowledge of hospital-based pediatric falls and to identify parent populations more likely to report low levels of falls-related knowledge.

DESIGN: Validation of a questionnaire and a cross-sectional survey design.

METHODS: Parents (n = 200) of hospitalized children admitted to a tertiary specialist pediatric hospital in Australia completed an online questionnaire. Parents were asked to rate their hospital-based falls knowledge using a Likert scale (1-5). The questionnaire was administered to parents across six hospital wards, 1 day a week, from May to August 2019. Validation of the questionnaire involved factor analyses and reliability tests. Finally, descriptive analysis measured parents’ knowledge, and a multivariate logistic regression analysis reported factors associated with parents’ falls knowledge. All data were analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (V27). Ethical approval was received for all stages.

RESULTS: The final version of the parent knowledge of falls (PKOF) questionnaire consisted of 23 questions across five domains (Cronbach α = .929-.70). Parents’ knowledge of hospital-based falls ranged from 2.5 to 4.5, while knowledge that children may fall during parental presence rated the lowest score. Knowledge of inpatient falls was higher if their child had a high risk of falls (odds ratio [OR]: 2.1, p = .04) and they were Australian-born parents (OR: 1.9, p = .05).

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The PKOF questionnaire is an evidence-based instrument developed for a pediatric hospital setting. Findings highlight knowledge gaps and parent groups with the highest risk of having inadequate hospital-based falls knowledge. The questionnaire enables pediatric nurses and educators to measure parents’ knowledge of hospital-based falls accurately and consistently, and so to identify gaps and, subsequently, develop, implement, and evaluate falls education using an evidence-based approach.

PMID:35122465 | DOI:10.1111/jspn.12368

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

A meta-analysis comparing efficiency of limb-salvage surgery vs amputation on patients with osteosarcoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Int Wound J. 2022 Feb 5. doi: 10.1111/iwj.13758. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Osteogenic sarcoma is the central malignant bone neoplasm affecting the bones of arms and legs and rarely the soft tissues outside the bones. Historically, amputation was the chief surgical technique; currently, the popular standard is limb salvage surgery (LSS), although both procedures’ effect on 5-year-event survival, 5-year disease-free survival rates (DFS) and the local recurrence is uncertain. Therefore, this meta-study aimed to establish the relationship between the effect of LSS and amputation in subjects with osteogenic carcinoma. A systematic survey till January 2021 to know the effect of LLS vs amputation with subjects treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy was conducted. Clinical studies were identified with 9760 subjects with osteosarcoma of the extremities at the beginning of the trial; 7095 of them were managed with limb salvage surgery and 2611 with amputation. This study tried to compare the effects of LSS vs amputation in subjects with osteogenic sarcoma in the extremities. The dichotomous method in statistical analysis was used as a tool for establishing odds ratio (OR) at a confidence interval of 95% (CI) to assess the efficiency of LSS and amputees with osteosarcoma of the extremities with a fixed or random-effect model. Although patients with osteosarcoma of the extremities managed with LSS were significantly related to a higher local recurrence rate than those treated with amputation, they were also associated with higher 5-year overall survival (OS) than amputation. Patients showed no significant difference in a 5-year DFS rate between LSS vs amputation. The subjects who have undergone LSS for osteosarcoma of the extremities may have a higher risk of local recurrence than amputees. However, LSS may increase 5-year OS compared to amputees. These results depict that local recurrence of osteosarcoma does not influence survival rate. However, more studies are needed to validate this finding.

PMID:35122396 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.13758

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Awareness levels of breast cancer among female university and medical college students in Sylhet city of Bangladesh

Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2022 Feb 4:e1608. doi: 10.1002/cnr2.1608. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer has become a concerning health problem worldwide due to its increasing incidence rate. Women from developing countries are dying off due to the lack of knowledge on breast cancer and its different early detection programs.

AIMS: This study explores the level of knowledge about breast cancer risk factors, early warning signs, screening, and therapeutic approaches and their influential determinants among university and medical college students.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 567 female university-level students (343 female students from 1 university and 224 female students from 1 medical college). This study used a semi-structured questionnaire about four aspects (risk factors, early warning signs, screening, and therapeutic approaches) of breast cancer, latent class analysis (LCA), and latent class regression (LCR) for investigation.

RESULTS: The percent of knowing correct answers of risk factors, early warning signs, screening approaches, and therapeutic methods were 86.3%, 69.8%, 70.2%, and 51.2%, respectively for medical students who had a high level of awareness and those for university students were 73.0%, 66.8%, 35.9%, and 24.7%. On the other hand, only 37.95% of medical students had been practicing Breast self-examination (BSE), while it was 18.37% for university students. The most effective predictors of the high level of awareness were age, advertisements (ad) promoting awareness about breast cancer, programs/campaign related to breast cancer, and personal breast problem history.

CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the awareness level about four aspects of breast cancer is low among university students and is moderately high among medical students. Therefore, relevant health education programs in every educational institute are urgently needed to improve the awareness levels among female students to improve women’s health at home and abroad.

PMID:35122415 | DOI:10.1002/cnr2.1608

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The therapeutic outcomes of one-minute application of sodium hydroxide versus phenol in the chemical cauterization of ingrown toenails

J Cosmet Dermatol. 2022 Feb 5. doi: 10.1111/jocd.14830. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ingrown nails are frequently encountered in dermatology practice. The recurrence tendency of the disorder makes chemical cauterization essential during surgical procedures. In studies comparing nail matrix cauterization with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) versus phenol, phenol’s application time was highly variable.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic outcomes of matrix cauterization for a standard duration of one minute for NaOH versus phenol in stage II and III ingrown nails MATERIAL AND METHODS: The medical records of patients undergoing matrix cauterization with 10% NaOH or 88% phenol were evaluated. The primary outcome measure was the lack of recurrences on long-term follow-up. The secondary outcome measures were complete healing duration, patient-reported pain scores, and adverse effects related to the procedure.

RESULTS: Enrolled in this study were 62 ingrown toenail sides treated with 10% NaOH and 56 ingrown toenail sides treated with 88% phenol. The mean follow-up duration was 25.17 months. Recurrence was observed in four nail sides of the NaOH group (%6.45) and three nail sides of the phenol group (%5.35). The difference between the recurrence rates did not reach statistical significance. Patients treated with both methods were free of pain on the post-procedural tenth day. The visual analog scale pain scores and complete healing duration were similar between the two groups (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION: In a large group with long-term follow-up results, the short-term and long-term post-operative treatment outcomes were similar between the one-minute applications of 10% NaOH versus 88% phenol groups.

PMID:35122368 | DOI:10.1111/jocd.14830

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Development of antigen-prediction algorithm for personalized neoantigen vaccine using human leukocyte antigen transgenic mouse

Cancer Sci. 2022 Feb 4. doi: 10.1111/cas.15291. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Immunotherapy is currently recognized as the fourth modality in cancer therapy. CTLs can detect cancer cells via complexes involving human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules and peptides derived from tumor antigens, resulting in antigen-specific cancer rejection. The peptides may be predicted in silico using machine learning-based algorithms. Neopeptides, derived from neoantigens encoded by somatic mutations in cancer cells, are putative immunotherapy targets, as they have high tumor specificity and immunogenicity. Here, we used our pipeline to select 278 neoepitopes with high predictive “SCORE” from the tumor tissues of 46 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or metastasis of colorectal carcinoma. We validated peptide immunogenicity and specificity by in vivo vaccination with HLA-A2, A24, B35, and B07 transgenic mice using ELISpot assay, in vitro and in vivo killing assays. We statistically evaluated the power of our prediction algorithm and demonstrated the capacity of our pipeline to predict neopeptides (area under the curve = 0.687, p < 0.0001). We also analyzed the potential of long peptides containing the predicted neoepitopes to induce CTLs. Our study indicated that the short peptides predicted using our algorithm may be intrinsically present in tumor cells as cleavage products of long peptides. Thus, we empirically demonstrated that the accuracy and specificity of our prediction tools may be potentially improved in vivo using the HLA transgenic mouse model. Our data will help to feedback algorithms to improve in silico prediction, potentially allowing researchers to predict peptides for personalized immunotherapy.

PMID:35122353 | DOI:10.1111/cas.15291

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Successful long-term management of spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis using a software application: Results from a randomized-controlled, multicenter study

Eur J Neurol. 2022 Feb 4. doi: 10.1111/ene.15271. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Successful long-term treatment of spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) is challenging. We investigated the effects of multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation (MIR) and an individualized self-training program delivered by an App on spasticity in pwMS.

METHODS: First we assessed the efficacy of 4-weeks MIR in ambulatory pwMS (EDSS<7.0) with moderate to severe lower limb spasticity (defined by ≥4 points on the Numeric Rating Scale for spasticity (NRSs)) in a cohort of 115 pwMS in 7 rehabilitation centers in Austria. In case of a clinically relevant improvement in spasticity of ≥20% on the NRSs following MIR (n=94), pwMS were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either a newly designed “MS-spasticity App” or to a paper-based self-training program for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was change in NRSs (DRKS00023960).

RESULTS: MIR led to a significant reduction of 2.0 points on the NRSs (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.5 to 2.0; p<0.000). MIR was further associated with a statistically significant improvement in spasticity on the modified Ashworth scale, strength and all mobility outcomes. Following MIR, self-training with “MS-spasticity App” was associated with a sustained positive effect on the NRSs, while paper-based self-training led to a worsening in spasticity (median NRSs difference 1.0; 95% CI 1.7 to 0.3; p=0.009). “MS-spasticity App” was also associated with a significantly better adherence to self-training (95% versus 72% completion rate; p<0.001).

CONCLUSION: In pwMS, MIR is able to significantly improve lower-limb spasticity, strength and mobility. Following MIR, an individually tailored anti-spasticity program delivered by an App leads to sustained positive long-term management.

PMID:35122365 | DOI:10.1111/ene.15271

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Influential barriers perceived by South Asians in Hong Kong to undergoing cervical cancer screening

Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2022 Feb 5:e13556. doi: 10.1111/ecc.13556. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To report the uptake rate of cervical cancer screening (the Papanicolaou [Pap] test) and identify the perceived barriers associated with screening uptake among South Asian women in Hong Kong.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved a structured survey of 776 South Asian women aged 21 and above, recruited from the community. The participants’ demographic characteristics, Pap test uptake and responses to a validated 14-item scale of perceived barriers to screening was collected. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

RESULTS: The Pap test uptake rate was 40.3%. Multivariate analysis identified two perceived barriers significantly associated with the participants’ Pap test uptake: (1) not knowing where to have the test and (2) the belief that they did not need a test if they felt well.

CONCLUSION: Although language problems and embarrassment are commonly reported barriers to screening by South Asians, the participants were more concerned about where to have the test and whether they needed it. Future interventions should thus focus on enhancing their access to the service and clarifying their understanding of the need.

PMID:35122343 | DOI:10.1111/ecc.13556

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Comparison of the Fit Accuracy of Conventional and CAD/CAM-fabricated Band-loop Space Maintainers

Int J Paediatr Dent. 2022 Feb 4. doi: 10.1111/ipd.12955. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: The aim of this in vitro study is to comparatively evaluate the band fit of the metallic band-loop space maintainers fabricated by conventional and 3D printing technology for clinical applications.

DESIGN: Sixteen digital intraoral impressions were selected and resin models were printed with 3D printer. Forty band-loop space maintainers were fabricated (n=20 for conventional group and n=20 for digital group). To evaluate the band fit of conventional and CAD/CAM fabricated space maintainers, cement space was visualized with low viscosity condensation silicone material on resin models. Digital evaluation was done by dual scan method superimposing two scans of resin models covered with or without a silicone layer on the abutment tooth. The mean quadratic deviation (Root Mean Square, RMS) was calculated. RMS values between the groups were evaluated with Student-t test. Statistical significance was set as p <0.05.

RESULTS: No statistical significance was found between the conventional and digital groups (p=0.56).

CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this study, the band fit of conventional and CAD/CAM-fabricated space maintainers had no difference. There is a need for studies about CAD/CAM-fabricated appliances regarding other aspects such as fracture strength and patient comfort.

PMID:35122341 | DOI:10.1111/ipd.12955

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Efficacy of international web-based educational intervention in the detection of high-risk flat and depressed colorectal lesions higher (CATCH project) with a video: A randomized trial

Dig Endosc. 2022 Feb 4. doi: 10.1111/den.14244. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Three high-risk flat and depressed lesions (FDLs), laterally spreading tumors non-granular type (LST-NG), depressed lesions, and large sessile serrated lesions (SSLs), are highly attributable to post-colonoscopy colorectal cancer (CRC). Efficient and organized educational programs on detecting high-risk FDLs are lacking. We aimed to explore whether a web-based educational intervention with training on FIND clues (fold deformation, intensive stool/mucus attachment, no vessel visibility, and demarcated reddish area) may improve the ability to detect high-risk FDLs.

METHODS: This was an international web-based randomized control trial that enrolled non-expert endoscopists in 13 Asian countries. The participants were randomized into either education or non-education group. All participants took the pre-test and post-test to read 60 endoscopic images (40 high-risk FDL, 5 polypoid, 15 no lesions) and answered whether there was a lesion. Only the education group received a self-education program (video and training questions and answers) between the tests. The primary outcome was a detection rate of high-risk FDLs.

RESULTS: In total, 284 participants were randomized. After excluding non-responders, the final data analyses were based on 139 participants in the education group and 130 in the non-education group. The detection rate of high-risk FDLs in the education group significantly improved by 14.7% (66.6% to 81.3%) compared with -0.8% (70.8% to 70.0%) in the non-education group. Similarly, the detection rate of LST-NG, depressed lesions, and large SSLs significantly increased only in the education group by 12.7%, 12.0%, and 21.6%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Short self-education focusing on detecting high-risk FDLs was effective for Asian non-expert endoscopists. (UMIN000042348).

PMID:35122323 | DOI:10.1111/den.14244